FACTS AND STATS: Bird climbs the record books in sensational São Paulo

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FACTS AND STATS: Bird climbs the record books in sensational São Paulo

NEOM McLaren's Sam Bird returned to winning ways in spectacular style in São Paulo, read on to see how his win impacted the record books and the stats behind Formula E's second visit to Brazil.

bird sao paulo 2024 action

· After pulling off a spectacular last lap move around the outside of Mitch Evans, Sam Bird claimed his 12th Formula E victory (putting him one win behind Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi’s record).

· For the seventh time in Formula E, the race was won following a last lap lead change (and the first since the Season 7 Monaco E-Prix).

· Bird has a consistent pattern of having won in the opening portion of a season. In seven of the ten Formula E seasons, Bird has won one of the opening four races.

HIGHLIGHTS: The São Paulo E-Prix Round 4

· Pascal Wehrlein and Stoffel Vandoorne lined up on the front row for the start of the São Paulo E-Prix. The seven drivers to have claimed a front row start so far in Season 10 are from seven different nations. Brazil, Portugal and India are the only nations represented on the Season 10 grid that have not yet taken a front row start.

· After just four races in Season 10, all 11 teams have had a driver reach the Duels at least once. It took until the final race of Season 8 and until Race 8 of Season 9 for all teams to have reached the Duels in the previous seasons.

· Edoardo Mortara claimed Mahindra Racing’s first Duel appearance since Diriyah last season, the Swiss-Italian started the race from sixth on the grid - his best start since joining the Indian team in Season 10.

· Six times has a team had at least one driver reach the Duels in eight consecutive qualifying sessions. Jaguar TCS Racing are the only team to have gone on the streak twice, with the team’s current streak starting back at the first race of last season’s Rome E-Prix.

· Sam Bird became the second oldest Formula E winner, having won aged 37 years and 67 days. Lucas di Grassi claimed his most recent win aged 37 years and 354 days.

· Sam Bird’s last win came in New York in Season 7. The Briton had 35 winless race starts between his wins. A streak which is only beaten by Antonio Felix da Costa who went 38 race starts between his wins in Season 1 and Season 5.

Sam Bird 2024 São Paulo E-Prix highlights

· Even though he didn’t finish in the top ten to claim the championship point, Nyck de Vries claimed the fastest lap of the Sao Paulo E-Prix. This is Mahindra Racing’s 10th fastest lap in Formula E.

· Six different drivers have now claimed a fastest lap whilst driving for Mahindra Racing, which is more than any other team (Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna, Felix Rosenqvist, Pascal Wehrlein, Alexander Sims and now de Vries).

· After leading 19 laps in São Paulo, Sam Bird has surpassed 300 laps led in Formula E putting the Brit fourth in terms of all-time with a total of 316 laps led.

· The 19 laps led by the Sam Bird was more than the NEOM McLaren team had led across their prior 19 races since joining Formula E (14 laps led).

· After back-to-back podium finishes, Oliver Rowland has now scored a total of 264 points for Nissan across his two stints with the team, now making him the highest scoring driver for Nissan in Formula E (surpassing Sebastien Buemi). Only 16 drivers have managed to score over 250 points for a single team.

· Nissan powertrains scored their third ever win in Formula E, with the Japanese manufacturer powering the NEOM McLaren outfit. This race also marked the second race to be won by someone using a powertrain other than Porsche or Jaguar in the last 16 races - the last being DS PENSKE's Jean-Eric Vergne with the STELLANTIS power in Hyderabad last season.

· It was also the first double podium for Nissan powertrains with Bird and Rowland finishing in first and third respectively - the Japanese manufacturer looking competitive heading into their home race in Tokyo on Saturday 30 March, 2024.

· Maximilian Guenther started last on the grid and had a 10-second stop-and-go in São Paulo after picking up penalties for changing the gearbox and inverter on his Maserati MSG machine. Despite this the German worked his way through the pack to end the race in the points in ninth.

· The São Paulo E-Prix was the 120th Formula E race, and the second Safety Car period in the race was the 120th Safety Car intervention in Formula E history.

sao paulo 2024 porsche safety car
SAFETY FIRST: Formula E's 120th race also saw the Safety Car make its 120th appearance after three incidents in São Paulo brought out the Porsche Taycan Safety Car

· With Jean-Eric Vergne claiming a seventh-place finish in São Paulo, it marked the 100th Formula E race in which a French driver has scored points in (there is currently a 19-race streak in which French drivers have picked up points).

· With both Sam Bird and Oliver Rowland standing on the podium, the São Paulo E-Prix was the fifth British double podium in Formula E (and the first British double podium not to include Jake Dennis). All British double podiums have come since the start of Season 7.

· Nine drivers have led at least one lap across the opening four races in Season 10, which already equals the total number of race leaders in the whole of Season 6.